Def Leppard toured extensively for their latest album, ‘Euphoria’, which came out June 8, 1999. That tour brought them to Japan where they played 8 shows, three of which were at Tokyo’s famed Kokusai Forum where this disc was recorded. It is said that this was the October 1st show. However, the bootleggers have it wrong. The band only played “Wasted” on the October 2nd show which was actually recorded in full and broadcast on the radio and it was actually filmed to be shown on TV as well. Why we don’t have an official release of this show from the band is strange. We do have a few songs that from this show that were released on The Collection, Volume 2 Box Set on the Rarities 3 LP from that set.

As with most bootlegs, this CD has one glaring mistake. Look at the picture below and see if you can spot it. And no, it isn’t the fact the picture is with some of the members of Journey. Nope. It is the fact that the picture has the late, great Steve Clark in it who died back in 1991 a full 8 years prior to this release. He isn’t even on this release so shouldn’t have a picture. The bootleggers, however, seem to get all the song titles right and even the spelling. That is pretty rare! Now, that is all I have on this release so let’s get to the show which is the full set list with 22 songs and almost 2 hours worth of music spread over 2 CDs…it is awesome. And one cool thing is they play at least one song from every Leppard album released to date. Good job boys…good job!

The album opens with “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)” which is played at 100 mph as the band seems to be in a hurry to get through it. The band sounds fantastic though, guitars are crisp, drums are powerful and Joe sounds terrific. Always a great opener. And they don’t slow things down as they rip through the Sweet cover of “Action” and I do love Lep’s version of this one. They made it their own. A high energy romp that keeps the pace at breakneck speed. They go in to the first new song and play “Demolition Man” and talk about fast…holy crap I think they sped it up the tempo even more. It is bam bam, next song, bam bam, next song…you get the idea. The new song fits well into the vibe of the live setting. I dig it.

Leppard takes a little breather and Joe addresses the crowd even with a little Japanese. He talks about the cameras and that they are filming for TV in December 1999. They then go in to “Women” and open with that killer, instantly recognizable riff. I still like this song even if not the best from ‘Hysteria’. Rick Savage’s bass is really front and center and the driving soul on this version. I like that. Lep goes on to play one of their cheesiest songs with “Make Love Like A Man” and this one gets extended out by over a minute as Joe plays with the crowd at the end drawing out the lyrics. Not a huge fan of this song, so it doesn’t do anything for me. The first ballad is up next with “When Love & Hate Collide” and although a pretty darn good ballad, I found it a little flat here. A lot of the heart was lost in this setting. I’m not saying they did a bad job with it, but it is hard for Joe to muster that emotion it needs live.

There seems to be a slight edit and it is Joe talking to the crowd telling them to sing on the chorus when they go in to “Animal” and we are back to seeing how fast we can increase the tempo…slow down boys, take a breath. Vocals on this are rough, even the backing ones…sorry. Things are slowed back down with another ballad and this time it is “Hysteria”, one of my all time favs. The echo is added to Joe’s vocals to keep the vibe of the studio track and done well. Not as good as the studio version, but the boys do the song well as you’d expect. Next up is a ‘Pyromania’ track and we get the coolest of the bunch with “Foolin'”. That opening riff is slow and a little nasty (in a good way) and then it is boom, the song kicks in full and the band rocks it out.

“Paper Sun” is one of those epic songs that Lep has on their albums in the vein of “White Lightning” and “Gods of War”. This one is a little psychedelic, a little rock and a lot of pure class by the band.  And live, the band slays it and the instrumental break in it is nothing short of superb. Such a cool track. One of my favorites on this release. I wish they still played this one. “Slang” is up next and what a fun song live. It is really a strange song, but I do so love it. And it fits perfect for them as it is sped up like a lot of the songs so far. I wonder if they have a plane to catch or something. The last song on Disc One is from ‘Euphoria’ and it is the great track of “Promises” and a song that deserves to be in the setlist. Joe does have a hard time hitting those notes though, but who cares, great catchy song regardless.

Disc two kicks off with another ‘Euphoria’ song and this one is “Goodbye” which is a ballad. A song the band felt should’ve been a huge hit, but it wasn’t. This live version is pretty raw and not perfect, but I think they do a better job with it then “When Love and Hate Collide”. They stick with the ballads and next we get “Love Bites”. One of the classiest and most sophisticated ballads the band has ever done. And they don’t disappoint as this is perfection here as I love how they played out the instrumental piece at the end and didn’t cut the song short. Also, they weren’t in a hurry as it was paced nice and slow like it should be. Next up is another of their cheesy songs with “Armageddon It” which starts out with some big bass drum from Rick Allen. Then the guitars come in and you realize which song it is and I’m ready for the next one.

“Photograph” is up now and thank goodness as we are back to good Leppard songs. That famous opening riff, the driving beat by Rick and Joe screams out those lyrics. A Lep classic and must be played at every show (IMO). Then it is straight in to “Rocket” and a nicely done transition. Very smooth as it sounds like they fit next to each other. I do love this track too. And to keep the energy going they go in to “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, the song that made them mega superstars. Man, do they have some recognizable opening riffs and this one is no different. The party gets turned up another notch with this one.

Joe addresses the crowd and talks about the new Japanese words they learned and especially the following phrase…”Gunter glieben glauten globen” and off they go in to “Rock of Ages”. A fitting way to end the regular set of the show. The band goes off and then back on the stage for the encore, the opening riff of “Wasted” starts off and the crowd goes nuts, but Joe stops and says…”nah nah nah nah” and then asks they crowd “Do You Want To Get Rocked?” as they go in to “Let’s Get Rocked”. A third cheesy song, but it does play well live.

The reaction to the “Wasted” opening riff was so big, I think they decided to play it for the crowd and so they went in to “Wasted” and holy crap it is totally awesome. Best song of the night if you ask me. A song that needs to be played live way more ofter. It is the only of the 3 shows they played that song. And the final track is the only song from ‘High & Dry’ as they slam out “Let It Go” and what a great song to end the night with. The boys really killed it with the last two encore songs. Man, they need to focus on the earliest songs more. They are the most rocking of the bunch.

And that it is it. What a great live set as they covered every single album which is something they do not do nowadays. Now, we did get 6 from Hysteria, 4 from Pyromania, 4 from the new album ‘Euphoria’, we also get 2 from Andrenalize, 1 from RetroActive, 1 from Slang, 1 from the Vault and 1 from On Through the Night and High N Dry. So happy they spread the love around as it made for a much more interesting setlist. Cut a couple from Hysteria and it would’ve been even better. The sound was really good on this one and the band really played an excellent show. Why this hasn’t been officially released, I have no idea, but it should. My Overall Score is a 4.5 out of 5.0 Stars as they still play too many cheesy songs. But still well worth it if you see this one…a must have. And I think the last bootleg I had left to review. I need to go find more bootlegs.

NEXT UP: CYBERNAUTS – ‘LIVE’ (2000)

THE DEF LEPPARD COLLECTION SERIES

1. Def Leppard E.P. – 7″ Single (1979)
2. First Strikes 1978-1979 (Bootleg CD)
3. Girl – Sheer Greed (1980)
4. On Through the Night (1980)
5. When the Walls Came Tumbling Down (April 26 1980) (2020)
6. High & Dry (1981)
7. Too Many Jitterbugs – B-Sides And Rarities (2020)
8. Raw – Early BBC Recordings (2020)
9. Girl – Wasted Youth (1982)
10. Pyromania (1983)
11. “Photograph” 7″ Single (1983)
12. “Too Late For Love” 12″ Single (1983)
13. Live at the L.A. Forum 1983 (2018)
14. Seattle, August 3, 1983 (Bootleg CD)
15. Pyromania TV Collection (Bootleg DVD)
16. Hysteria (1987)
17. “Animal” 7″ Single (1987)
18. “Women” 7″ Single (1987)
19. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” 7″ Single (1987)
20. “Hysteria” 7″ Single (1987)
21. “Armageddon It” 7″ Single (1988)
22. “Love Bites” 7″ Single (1988)
23. “Rocket” 7″ Single (1989)
24. Animal Instinct – The Def Leppard Story – Book Review (1987)
25. Rarities – Volume One (2018)
26. Live in Mountain View – August 17, 1988 (Bootleg DVD)
27. Historia – DVD (1988)
28. Live: In the Round, In Your Face (CD Video / DVD) (1989)
29. Adrenalize (1992)
30. “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” – Cassette Single (1992)
31. “Tonight” CD Single (1993)
32. Live Sheffield 1992 (Bootleg DVD)
33. Retro Active (1993)
34. Visualize DVD (1993)
35. Hard Rock Café – Singapore, Malaysia October 26, 1995 (Bootleg DVD)
36. Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980-1995) (1995)
37. “When Love & Hate Collide” – CD Promo Single (1995)
38. Video Archive (1995)
39. Slang (1996)
40. Montreal: The Classic 1996 Broadcast (Bootleg CD)
41. Live Bites: FM Broadcast (Bootleg CD)
42. Live in Argentina 1997 (Bootleg DVD)
43. Euphoria (1999)
44. Rarities – Volume Two (2019)
45. Rarities – Volume Three (2019)
46. Tokyo 1999 (Bootleg CD)
47. Cybernauts – Live (2000)
48. X (2002)
49. Hysteria: Classic Albums DVD (2002)
50. Best of Def Leppard (2004)
51. Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection (2005)
52. Yeah! (2006)
53. Songs from the Sparkle Lounge (2008)
54. Man Raze – Surreal (2008)
55. B-Sides (2021)
56. Yeah! II (2021)
57. Yeah! Live (2021)
58. CMT Crossraods – Taylor Swift & Def Leppard (2009)
59. Down ‘N’ Outz -My ReGeneration (2010)
60. Man Raze – PunkFunkRootsRock (2011)
61. Down ‘N’ Outz -The Further Adventures of… (2014)
62. Def Leppard (2015)
63. The Lost Session (2018)
64. Personal Jesus 7″ Single (2018)
65. Down ‘N’ Outz -This is How We Roll (2019)
66. Hits Vegas: Live at Planet Hollywood – Vinyl (2020)
67. Hysteria: Live – Vinyl (2020)
68. Def Leppard Acoustic Vegas – 10″ Vinyl (2020)
69. Down ‘N’ Outz – The Music Box E.P. (2020)
70. Diamond Star Halos (2022)
71. High & Dry – Picture Disc (RSD) (2022)
72. Drastic Symphonies (2023)
73. Drastic Symphonies – Picture Disc (2023)
74. Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard (2023)
75. Def Leppard – ‘One Night Only: Live at The Leadmill’ (RSD) (2024)

PREVIOUSLY POSTED:

1. The Def Leppard E.P. (1979/2017)
2. Def Leppard: Interview Picture Disc (1982?)
3. “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” – 12″ Promo Single (1984)
4. Live at the Top (Bootleg) (1987)
5. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” –  5″ Shaped Picture Disc (1987)
6. Hysteria U.S. Tour 1988 – Tour Book (1988)
7. “Make Love Like a Man” – 12″ Single (1992)
8. “Let’s Get Rocked” – 12″ Single (1992)
9. Adrenalize: The 7 Day Weekend Tour (1992/1993)
10. X: World Tour (2003)
11. Mirrorball – Live & More (2011)
12. Def Leppard: The Definitive Visual History – Book Review (2011)
13. Viva! Hysteria (2013)
14. And There Will Be A Next Time…Live from Detroit (2017)
15. Hysteria: 30th Anniversary Box Set (2017)
16. The Story So Far – The Best of (2018)
17. The Collection, Volume 1 (2018)
18. Hysteria: The Singles Box Set (2018)
19. Live at Abbey Road Studios (2018)
20. Def Leppard: Concert Review – Charlotte, NC June 9th 2018 (2018)
21. The Story So Far – The Best of Volume 2 (2019)
22. The Collection, Volume 2 (2019)
23. London to Vegas (2020)
24. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 29 March 2019 (2020)
25. The Early Years ’79-’81 (2020)
26. The Collection, Volume 3 (2021)
27. Def Leppard Funko Pop!